Should You Invest Your Home Equity?
Question: My home is worth about $240K and we bought it 9 years ago for only $118K. If I take a home equity loan out for its full value, would it be wise to invest the amount in laddered muni bonds? That would give me tax-free interest. I only earn about $45K per twelve months in salary, but earned $27K from investing in bond funds last year. I require more disposable income to pay bills. Answer: Four things you want to consider: 1) Will the return you get on the muni bonds be greater than the interest you pay on your home equity liability? A home equity line for up to 100% of the value of your home may have a higher than advertised percentage due to the additional risk the lender takes by allowing you to borrow up to 100%. Since you have considerable equity in your home, consider a home equity line of up to 80 or 90% of the value. (You don't have to take all the money out right away but by capping the amount at 80-90% you could receive a lower percentage rate.) So ...